Author:G.S. Beard
Fans of Hornblower and Sharpe will love this captivating and compelling nautical adventure from much loved author G.S.Beard. Guaranteed to stir into life even the most sluggish of readers!
'If you like sea stories, you will enjoy this, and even if you think you don't but enjoy things like Sharpe, it might just convert you' - HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
'Excellent gripping story gives you little time to put the book down' -- ***** Reader review
'Read almost overnight, difficult to put down, a memorable yarn' -- ***** Reader review
'A proper page turner' -- ***** Reader review
'A brilliant read, I was hooked from the beginning to the end' -- ***** Reader review
'I felt like I was on the high seas with them!' -- ***** Reader review
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1792: the start of the French Revolutionary Wars.
A shadow hangs over John Thomas Fury in this his first voyage as a midshipman aboard the 32-gun frigate Amazon. The son of a violent and unstable brig commander who drove his crew to mutiny, Fury finds himself an outcast onboard and working doubly hard to prove that he isn't cursed like his father.
Redemption arrives when Amazon reaches Bombay, only to discover that ships of the East India Company have disappeared, including the Company's warships. Somewhere in the Indian Ocean a very powerful privateer is at work and the Governor despatches Amazon to find and destroy her.
Soon afterwards Amazon is in a desperate fight for her life against a much stronger foe. In such crucibles of fire are the officers in His Majesty's Service forged.
Can Fury cover himself in glory and banish the shadows of the past are forever?
Fury's adventures continue in Lieutenant Fury.
Here is a rollicking adventure, real Boy's Own stuff, whicn is romantic (though twithout romance)and reassuring...and which will stir into life the sluggish blood of even the most pacific of readers
—— Daily ExpressA lively page-turner. Beard shows that he can write about nautical action fluently, and there is always something going on as adventures fairly fall over each other once the ship sails into Indian waters. If you like sea stories, you will enjoy this, and even if you think you don't but enjoy things like Sharpe, it might just convert you.
—— Historical Novels ReviewThis is a great novel, a rare example of a book that lives up to its billing, its emotional depth and humanity balanced by formidable formal control and pacing of the chronological sequence, the text rendered into an English that mostly finds the cadence and associative range of the original Hebrew... To The End Of The Land is, quite literally, unforgettable
—— Brian Morton , Sunday HeraldThis is a book of overwhelming power and intensity, David Grossman's masterpiece. Flaubert created his Emma, Tolstoy made his Anna, and now we have Grossman's Ora - as fully alive, as fully embodied, as any character in recent fiction. I devoured this long novel in a feverish trance. Wrenching, beautiful, unforgettable
—— Paul AusterThere are some writers in whose words one recognizes the texture of life. David Grossman is such a writer. He is a master of the emotionally accurate and significant. His characters don't so much lie on the page as rise before the reader's eyes, in three dimensions, their skin covered in prose that both stabs with insight and shines with compassion
—— Yann MartelGrossman's use of language - emotive, poignant, sometimes bewitching - draws the reader in and Ora becomes a truly sympathetic character. An eloquent and captivating read, and quite possibly a landmark novel in Israeli fiction.
—— Danielle Goldstein , TimeoutVery rarely, a few times in a lifetime, you open a book and when you close it again nothing can ever be the same. To the End of the Land is a book of this magnitude. David Grossman may be the most gifted writer I've ever read. To read it is to have yourself taken apart, undone, touched at the place of your own essence; it is to be turned back, as if after a long absence, into a human being
—— Nicole KraussHoneyed and portentous, rhythmic and often breathless, the prose sweeps the reader into a pool of shimmering reflection
—— Toby Lichtig , Times Literary SupplementGrossman's account of Ora and Avram's lengthening flight from their painful lives is a tour de force.
—— Jonathan Mirsky , SpectatorDavid Grossman explores how words illuminate the darkest landscapes and how lives can be shaped and preserved through stories
—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mailwonderful, and desperately sad
—— interview with Claire Allfree , MetroSorrow and magnificence go hand in hand in Israeli writer David Grossman's intimate view of lives held hostage to the threat of violence and danger...potent, moving and emotionally raw. To the End of the Land is unforgettable
—— Marie ClaireThe book is full of incidents of magical thinking of the kind that anyone who has ever tried in vain to protect someone they love will recognise. This is a powerful epic of love, loss and loyalty
—— Psychologies Magazine...terrific...this is a powerful and memorable novel, which movingly evokes the strains of war and peace in one household...British people are often accused of failing to see things from the Israeli point of view. To the End of the Land sears this perspective onto the memory.
—— Theo Tait , Sunday Times...extraordinary epic of love, war and sorrow...Stunning-brilliantly written and beautifully constructed.
—— Kate Saunders , The Times...a deeply serious, utterly honest work about the state of Israel.
—— Justin Cartwright , Financial TimesDavid Grossman writes with a vulnerability that is free of fear, poetic and powerful, sensual and angry, passionate and gently. He writes not only for his survival but for ours as well.
—— Die Zeit...a powerful and memorable novel, which movingly evokes the strains of war and peace...British people are often accused of failing to see things from the Israeli point of view. To the End of the Land sears this perspective onto the memory.
—— Theo Tait , Sunday Times Culture MagazineStunning-brilliantly written and beautifully constructed.
—— Kate Saunders , The TimesIs a heartbreaking, riveting portrait of modern Israel. A family story, a rich character study, a story of war. Unmissable.
—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Christmas round upA work of art
—— Rachel Cooke , New Statesman, Christmas round upFirst-rate writing about the craziness of modern-war.
—— Simon Schama , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round upBreathtaking skill...an extraordinary emotional charge.
—— Colm Toibin , Guardian, Christmas round upDavid Grossman laid bare the flayed soul of Israel
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent, Christmas round upArticulates the pain and complexity of being born in Israel so powerfully that it will unquestionably be studied by future generations.
—— Nick Barley , Herald, Christmas round upMagnificent
—— Katherine Duncan-Jones , Times Literary Supplement, Christmas round upOften impressive, sometimes touching
—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of BooksHe is the finest living novelist I have read. His work is visceral and clear-headed. Though I loved Franzen's Freedom, Grossman's novel is better
—— Stella Tillyard , ObserverTo define David Grossman's masterly new novel as the ultimate anti-war oeuvre would not do it justice...To the End of the Land is richer and more complex than a chronicle of war. It is an intimate portrayal of a woman and mother, Ora, who has been compared to Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna...With characters with whom the reader can empathise, a powerful if disturbing theme and an element of suspense and the unknown, Grossman's novel, while not easy to read, is well worth the effort
—— Emma Klein , TabletFurther proof the Very Long Novel is in rude health with David Grossman's fine book about the seemingly endless conflict between Israel and Palestine
—— MetroMovingly evokes the strains of war and peace in one Israeli household
—— Theo Tait , Sunday TimesGrossman's soaring, wrenching journey through Israel ... grapples with the largest of themes: memory and identity, community and nationhood. Yet through its picaresque plot, it always remains a mother's story and a family romance... Grossman aims high, digs deep, and returns from inner and outer voyages with darkly glittering jewels of insight
—— IndependentAn intimate and national epic
—— Colin Waters , HeraldA stunning, powerful novel
—— TelegraphTo the End of the Land is a novel of relationships: personal, moral and political: all reviewed against a muted landscape of pain, threat and hostility... Grossman list his youngest son Uri in the final hours of the second Lebanon war and his personal connection to the trauma of conflict adds weight to this substantial work
—— James Urquhart , Financial Times